T&T first gymnast?

[Flex]

T&T gymnast makes it into world top 50
T&T Guardian
Friday, October 18, 2013

Marissa Dick, T&T’s top female gymnast, is now ranked 50th in the world, the highest ever for a national athlete in the sport.
 
The achievement came during the 44th World Championships in Artistic Gymnastics held from 30 September to 6 October in Antwerp, Belgium. The Championships was well attended with 147 participants from 59 countries.
 
Dick, who is just 16 years old and competing in her first World Championships, achieved an all around score of 49.232 which ranked her in 50th place in the world. The competition was very fierce with scores going to the thousandth place to separate the gymnasts.
 
Dick’s most outstanding performance came on her best event, the Balance Beam, with a score of 12.733 which earned her 38th place. This was higher than notable London Olympians like American McKayla Marone, Great Britian’s Rebecca Tunney, Germany’s Elisabeth Seitz and Japan’s Asuka Teramoto.
 
According to T&T Gymnastics Federation (TTGF) president Ricardo Lue Shue, Dick’s performance means that T&T now has a legitimate contender for the 2016 Olympic Games, as well as the potential to make a final at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, 2014 CAC Games and 2015 Pan Am Games.
 
Lue Shue said his organisation was extremely proud of Dick’s achievement and thanked the Ministry of Sport and the Sports Company for their continued support. SporTT covered the cost of airfare and stipends for Dick and three others from Capital City Gymnastics Club (coach, assistant coach/chaperone, physiotherapist) as well as a TTGF representative, for the World Championships in Belgium.
 
Dick trains at Capital City Gymnastics Club in Edmonton, Canada and is back at the gym with her Romanian coach, Ovidiu Serban who is already planning to increase her difficulty on all four events (Balance Beam, Vault, Floor Exercise and Uneven Bars). More difficulty means a higher All Around start value. This will give her the potential to score higher which is needed to break into the top 30 in the world.
 
In 2012, as a junior, Dick competed at the Pan American Apparatus Championships in Medellin, Colombia and placed 15th All Around out of 35 gymnasts. She made it to the final on Floor and Vault and eventually placed 7th on both events.


Marissa Dick...contender for the next Olympic Games

[Dutty]

best of luck to her..lone entrant an all.

[capodetutticapi]

this go b the first dick ah want to see in action.......in all seriousness which marissa all the best.

[maxg]

TT gymnasts return with medals galore
By STEPHON NICHOLAS Thursday, December 19 2013
newsday.co.tt 

Gymnasts from two of this country’s top clubs returned home with over 50 medals on Tuesday night after a strong performance at the Atlantic Crown Gymnastic Invitational Meet held in the Bahamas.

The youngsters from Mucurapo Gymnastic Achievers and Olympic Gymnastic Club were welcomed by their proud parents on Tuesday evening while showing off their medals on their arrival at the Piarco International Airport around 8.30pm.

With 45 competing clubs from nine countries including USA, England, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the hosts to name a few, the young TT athletes had to be at their best and were!

Speaking at the airport on Tuesday, Dale Ali, Director and head coach at Olympic, was in a bubbly mood on his return and congratulated all the gymnasts.

“The TT contingent was really outstanding, we had 28 athletes from Olympic and 10 from Mucurapo. The Olympic came first all-around in the Level Is and Mucurapo came first in the Level IIs with Olympic coming second so we (TT) really dominated that division...We’re still doing the tally of the whole meet but we came back with about 50 medals or more,” he proudly stated.

He noted that the standard of the tournament was very high but the local athletes were able to leave their mark on the meet.

“Going into this competition, this one took us six months solid preparation because after the Olympic cycle the routines changed. It was a very tough meet but TT had the crowd going and everyone got behind the chants. They came up and congratulated the coaches because they saw the difference and standard of the TT team,” he continued.

Ali explained that gymnastics is not just a fun sport but also helps in the development of young people which he sees firsthand at his club.

“Our aim is to get kids onto national teams, that is the aim of the club. Hopefully sponsors see that this is a good footing for the children with the discipline that is required — it does pay off. My higher level kids come out with eight passes and that is what you want and of course making your country proud,” he concluded.

Alexis Adamson, coach at Mucurapo Gymnastic Achievers, revealed she was very happy with their effort and believes this will inspire them to work even harder.

“The performance was great and my girls did very well. I am very happy with the performance and as we go back to train at our gym for another meet in Barbados next year, we are (encouraged).

(This meet) opens their (minds) up and gives them that drive to do more and train harder because they see that going out there to compete against clubs from the USA and Bahamas is not an easy task. They are focussed and they are going to work their best because there are more major competition coming up and they want to remain on top,” she declared.